Many world leading corporations invest in Vietnam's seaport business

According to the Vietnam Maritime Administration, after two decades of developing seaports according to approved planning, Vietnam's seaports have formed a port system of 45 ports, including 32 inland seaports and 13 offshore oil and gas ports. The number of announced ports is 286 with about 96,275 km of wharf length, with a total capacity of 650-700 million tons/year.

Connected with the centers and major economic regions of the country, large seaports have been formed with the role of hubs for import and export of goods and creating momentum for the development of the whole region such as: Quang Ninh and Hai Phong seaports associated with the Northern key economic region; Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Dung Quat, Quy Nhon seaports associated with the Central key economic region; Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dong Nai seaports associated with the Southeast dynamic economic region. Can Tho and An Giang seaports associated with the Mekong Delta key economic region.

"Some seaports have been invested in with modern scale and international stature such as Ba Ria - Vung Tau seaport and Hai Phong seaport. These ports have been performing the role of international gateway ports and taking on the function of transit" - Vietnam Maritime Administration informed.

In 2020, the world's largest container ship Margrethe Maersk with a capacity of 214,121 DWT docked in Vietnam for the first time at Cai Mep International Port.

Compared to the first year of planning (2000), the length of Vietnam's seaport system has increased 4.5 times. Port capacity has been focused on, upgraded and renovated to accommodate ships with increasingly larger tonnage.

According to the Maritime Administration, most of the general ports and regional hubs including Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Nghi Son, Ha Tinh, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Quy Nhon, Khanh Hoa, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Long An have been newly invested and upgraded to allow receiving ships with a tonnage of up to 30,000 DWT and larger, in line with the development trend of the world's shipping fleet.

Many new ports have been invested with modern scale, allowing to receive large ships with tonnage up to hundreds of thousands of tons such as: Cai Mep - Thi Vai port area, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province; Lach Huyen port - Hai Phong.

Notably, Cai Mep port - Ba Ria - Vung Tau port has successfully received the world's largest container ship with a capacity of 18,340 TEU (214,000 DWT). In the North, Lach Huyen port has successfully received a 132,000 TEU ship. This is an important foundation, affirming the capacity of Vietnam's seaports, creating a premise for shipping lines to use Vietnam's seaports as a link in the global shipping chain.

For the first time in Vietnam, specialized passenger ports have been invested in and built in Hon Gai - Quang Ninh and Phu Quoc - Kien Giang. When these ports are completed, they will be able to receive international passenger ships with a tonnage of up to 225,000 GT, initially meeting the demand for international passenger transport by sea and improving the quality of Vietnam's tourism services on the international tourism map.

Total cargo throughput through Vietnam's seaports in the 2015-2020 period achieved an average growth rate of 15.7%/year.

According to statistics for the period 2015-2020, the number of sea passengers had an average growth rate of 37.8% (7.5 million passengers in 2019, 5.9 million passengers in 2020); the number of sea vessels increased by 5.3% (122,336 in 2019, 114,370 in 2020); the number of inland waterway vehicles increased by 22.7% (364,244 in 2019, 373,511 in 2020).

In particular, the Maritime Administration said that in recent times, Vietnam has attracted many professional port operators and major shipping lines in the world to participate in investing in the construction and exploitation of seaports in Vietnam, such as: DP World Group - UAE (the world's No. 5 port operator) participating in investing and exploiting SPCT port - Ho Chi Minh City; SSA Marine Group - USA (the world's No. 9 port operator) investing in exploiting CICT port in Quang Ninh province and SSIT port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

PSA Group - Singapore (the world's No. 3 port operator) invests and operates SP-PSA port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province; APMT Group - Denmark (the world's No. 2 port operator) invests and operates CMIT port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province; Hutchison Port Holding Group - Hong Kong (the world's No. 1 seaport operator) invests in SITV port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

Shipping lines Mitsui OSK line (Japan), Wanhai Lines (Taiwan) invested in and exploited Tan Cang - Cai Mep international container port; shipping lines MOL, NYK invested in Lach Huyen port (Hai Phong)... along with some domestic port operators such as Saigon Newport Corporation, Vietnam National Shipping Lines also provided the best seaport services, contributing to improving the service quality and competitiveness of Vietnamese seaports.

According to VOV